Chronic hind limb ischemia reduces myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in the rabbit heart by promoting coronary angiogenesis/arteriogenesis.

Background/aim: Application of ischemic injury in a remote organ may provide protection of other tissues against ischemia. We hypothesized that ischemia in the rabbit hind limb protects against myocardial ischemia by increasing angiogenesis/arteriogenesis.

Materials And Methods: In the first experiment, severe limb ischemia (LI) was induced in 26 New Zealand White rabbits by excision of the femoral artery while another 26 served as controls (no ischemia; sham operation [SHO]).

Repeated balloon inflations do not diminish ST segment elevation even though coronary collateral recruitment is promoted in pigs.

Objective: Attempts to demonstrate preconditioning during repeated angioplasty balloon inflations (BIs) have not been universally successful. The main obstacle is that the first BI is unreliable, due to the variable degrees of occlusion by the deflated balloon. In the present study, we examined whether ST segment elevation decreases and evaluated its relation to collateral recruitment during repeated angioplasty BIs in the pig.

Endothelin-A receptor antagonism promotes decreased vasodilation but has no differential effect on coronary artery compliance in hypertensive patients.

The importance of endothelin-1 in the pathophysiology of essential hypertension is unclear. We therefore examined whether there is a differential effect of endothelin-A antagonism on vasodilation and coronary artery compliance in hypertensive compared to normotensive patients. We examined atherosclerotic non-stenotic arteries from 18 non-diabetic, 10 normotensive patients and eight hypertensive patients, before and after intracoronary infusion of BQ-123 (6 mumol), an endothelin-A receptor antagonist.

Gender does not influence angiogenesis and arteriogenesis in a rabbit model of chronic hind limb ischemia.

Objective: Estrogen administration promotes angiogenesis and perfusion in oophorectomized rabbits with chronic limb ischemia. In the present study we tested whether gender affects angiogenesis and arteriogenesis in a rabbit model of chronic hind limb ischemia.

Methods And Results: Ischemia was induced in one hind limb of five oophorectomized (Ooph), seven non-oophorectomized (NonOoph) female and eight male New Zealand White rabbits by excision of the femoral artery.

Evaluation of serial QT dispersion in patients with first non-Q-wave myocardial infarction: relation to the severity of underlying coronary artery disease.

Background: Increased QT dispersion (QTD) has been correlated with ventricular arrhythmias. Recent reports suggest that it may serve as a marker of the severity of underlying coronary artery disease (CAD).

Hypothesis: The aim of this study was to examine in-hospital changes of QTD and their possible correlation with the severity of underlying CAD in patients with first non-Q-wave myocardial infarction.